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BlueCross BlueShield, Cigna issue rebates for 143,000 Tennesseans

This file image provided by U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service shows the website for HealthCare.gov. Many laid-off workers who lost health insurance in the coronavirus shutdown soon face the first deadlines to qualify for fallback coverage under the Affordable Care Act. (U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service via AP, File)
This file image provided by U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service shows the website for HealthCare.gov. Many laid-off workers who lost health insurance in the coronavirus shutdown soon face the first deadlines to qualify for fallback coverage under the Affordable Care Act. (U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service via AP, File) This file image provided by U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service shows the website for HealthCare.gov. Many laid-off workers who lost health insurance in the coronavirus shutdown soon face the first deadlines to qualify for fallback coverage under the Affordable Care Act. (U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service via AP, File)

By Dave Flessner 4 min read

Individuals who bought their health insurance through the health exchange program will soon be getting rebate checks in the mail.

BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee is issuing refund checks averaging $890 for those with individual plans bought under the health exchange program of the Affordable Care Act. The rebates are being granted, even after BlueCross cut its health insurance rates last year because it paid health benefits less than 80% of the premiums collected on individual and small group plans offered through the health exchange marketplace under the Affordable Care Act. The rebate checks are the biggest for the Chattanooga-based BlueCross since the health exchange marketplace began under the so-called Obamacare program in 2004.

Cigna Healthcare, which is another one of the handful of health insurers that offered coverage under the health exchange marketplace in Tennessee last year, also is making refunds for about 51,000 persons it covered under the Obamacare program in 2019.

The insurance rebates are only for those covered under the health exchange marketplace and not for those consumers who receive their BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee or Cigna insurance coverage through other means such as their employer.

The health care reform law requires insurance companies to pay annual rebates if less than 80% of the premiums they college are spent on claims and other costs that improve health care. In 2019, after all of the payments and adjustments were made, state regulators determined that BlueCross paid 69.2% of individual premiums and 79% of small employer (less than 50 employees) premiums on eligible health care services.